Twinkling Eyes
by Lucicelo
Summary: The attention of these handsome new friends crashed Kae's 2D inspired world. Out of all of her friends, Kae held a soft spot for her senpai.


Fighting off another blush, Kae twiddled strands of her hair. She replayed the last ten minutes in her mind. Processing the otome style situation she landed herself in again. Igarashi sat next to her, held her hand, talking about some topic. The rapid beating of her heart blocked her hearing, all she managed to do was nod her head. Once the rest of her friends arrived, a commotion happened between Igarashi, Shinomiya and Nanashima. They went outside to settle their dispute, leaving Mutsumi alone with her.

He sent her a gentle smile which helped her recover from this situation. These shojo style meetings and conversations happened in frequent alignment. A radical change after the loss of her beloved Shion. They helped her through her most dire time without judging her. Distracting her from her grief and helped her move on. She still collected Shion merchandise but, she entered new fandoms every season, giving her a wide range of new favorite character to choose from.

She considered herself lucky that she acquired these amazing friends. Although, the awkward fanfic moments never failed to bring her heart to skyrocket. Her poor heart managed to handle each encounter but—she imagined these situations with her favorite pairings—not herself.

Whenever she told A-chan, she received teasing grins and comments about her real life drama. This never failed to reduce her into sputtering answers and her face going bright red. All teasing aside, A-chan helped her with her outfits and gave her advice. Although, her friend spent most of her time with her boyfriend, leaving them to text each other most of the time outside of school.

As they sat at a cafeteria table, Kae and Mutsumi began eating their lunch. They started a light conversation over the history club. Kae's new feudal era fascination came from another new anime which premiered early in the fall season. There were hints at a pairing in the background of the main one. They were the ones Kae focused on. Mutsumi humored her and listened to her every word. He enjoyed hearing her excited voice.

From a distance, they heard Shima calling their names. Turning around, they waved her over to their table. Shima sat across from them with a big smile. "Senpai, I read your latest work! Why didn't you text me about it?" She pouted. "I had to get an alert from the subscription for me to know about it."

Kae rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm so sorry! I wrote that in between studying that I forgot to text you."

Mutsumi piped in, his lips quirked up. Knowing Kae, it had something to do with this new pairing which garnered her attention. "Serinuma-san, you posted another story? We are nearing midterms. I thought you were studying."

Kae added in. "Before you think I procrastinated, I finished looking through two subjects and wrote plenty of notes!"

"That is not what I meant at all." Mutsumi chuckled, he put out his hand. "I'd like to read it."

"Oh." Kae chuckled, she slipped her phone out of her pocket. "Okay, let me go into the site." Kae tapped her phone and went into the right story. "Here you go." Kae handed Mutsumi her phone. "I made it shorter than usual. It's a quick read."

Mutsumi curled his hand around her phone, careful in not dropping it. He read through the story, sliding his finger up after each paragraph he finished. Engrossing himself in the story, he sipped his juice and set it back down onto the table. Kae's words flowed in such an intricate manner, expressing the love between the pairing. This time, she showed him the anime beforehand so he got a grasp of their characteristics. Giving him a inside look of the complexity of the relationship.

Kae stared at him in anticipation. Whenever she created a new fanfic, Mutsumi read them and gave her his input. He didn't review them online but told her in person. He sugarcoated nothing. One aspect about him that she liked was his blunt and honest demeanor.

Shima asked Kae. "Senpai, I wanted to be the first to tell you." Kae turned her attention onto her. She tried not to grin. "My circle is going to make a line of doujinshi for this pairing of yours. We started talking and the ideas just flew into the mind."

"Really?!" Kae leaned over the table and they held hands. "That's so wonderful!"

After finishing the last sentence, Mutsumi informed Kae. "This scene in the middle is so heart warming. I didn't expect to have a scene where they walked under the moonlight."

"Thank you!" Kae took her hands back from Shima, she beamed at Mutsumi's commentary. "I added this scene while I edited the story. I'm glad you liked it." He patted the top of her head, making her hunch her shoulders.

Shima sat in her seat and heard out their conversation. She couldn't find it in herself to dislike Mutsumi. He exuded such a pure and gentle aura. Whenever she thought anything bad about him, she felt guilty in having those thoughts pass through her mind.

Mutsumi nodded his head, her contagious enthusiasm caused him to smile. "Your love for the characters shows through your writing."

Kae's face pinked. "Senpai, that's a bit too much. Don't you think? I mean—It's just a simple fluff fic. Anyone can write something like that."

Shima shook her head. "I agree with Mutsumi senpai. When I read it, I felt the emotions between the main couple. The kiss under the stars was just lovely." She sighed in bliss, her mind wandered back to the tender kiss the couple shared. "I simply have to draw it. I'll try to post it on my site sometime this week. I'll link your fanfiction account as the source."

Kae clasped her hands together in excitement. "That would be great!"

Shima checked for the time on her phone, she stood up, showing a sheepish smile. "I should get going. I promised to help the drama club stage hands with the backgrounds." Worrying little about Mutsumi's presence with Kae, she left them with a wave of a hand. "Bye, bye!"

Mutsumi handed Kae's phone back into her hands. "Thank you for sharing your stories with me." Kae's chest warmed at his comment. "It's amazing to see how much depth you add to them."

"Senpai, you're so kind!" Kae quipped, she laid a hand on her chest. "Y—You don't mind if the pairings I mainly write are men, right?"

Mutsumi informed her, "Not at all. I wouldn't have offered to read them otherwise."

"That's good." Kae let out a sigh. "You're one of the few guys who have read my work and didn't cringe. My brother doesn't count. He's the one who read my stories after I warn him about the content. It's his fault if he reads about two guys kissing."

Mutsumi tilted his head. "You haven't shown your writing to Igarashi-san, Nanashima-san, and Shinomiya-san? I'm surprised. I thought for sure that they kept up with your updates."

Kae shook her head, she pressed her pointer fingers together. "No. You're one of the few guys in my life who have read them."

"Ah," Mutsumi's cheeks developed a slight blush. "I didn't know. Thank you for confiding in me to read your writing." He couldn't stop smiling. "You may continue on sending me your stories. I love reading them."

They shared a tender smile before resuming their meal. After small intervals of silence, Mutsumi commented on another one of Kae's older creations. Causing her to blush and preen at his compliments. They shared pieces of their lunch with each other. Scooting closer to each other, Kae showed a trailer to a new historical anime.

Igarashi, Nanashima, and Shinomiya returned. Their earlier scuffle settled and dealt with. Panic filled them at witnessing their bonding moment that all of them hurried along to interrupt them.


End file.
